Sexual harassment in Israel via Michal Aviad's slow-burn melodrama, WORKING WOMAN

Location, location, location. That famous old real-estate slogan seems mightily appropriate in regard to the new movie, WORKING WOMAN, and not simply because the film involves the sale of some heavy-duty real estate by its heroine. Even more important is the fact that this tale -- which concerns the kind of sexual harassment that ranges anywhere between a 2 and a 10 (on a 10-point scale) -- takes place in Israel, a country that, even in our current age of Me2, seems a couple of decades behind much of the western world concerning the place of women in society.

As directed and co-written (with Sharon Azulay Eyal and Michal Vinik), by Michal Aviad (shown at left), this very interesting and believable movie tracks the new career of a wife and mother of three children, who goes to work for an ex-superior of hers (during her time in the Israeli army) who is now something of a real estate mogul. She does this in order to help salvage her husband's barely-making-it restaurant.

The couple is played by Liron Ben-Shlush (the wife, Orna) and Oshri Cohen (her hubby), and you could hardly ask for a more attractive pair: young, intelligent and sexy as hell. They seem quite happy, too -- except that we do get a sense that the husband is not overjoyed about his wife going to work for someone else. Just a minor annoyance, mind you, but still: It's there, and it begins to cement our further notions about Israeli society.

How our girl makes good at her new job is demonstrated with flair and subtlety by the filmmaker, and it is soon quite clear that her new boss, Benny (played by Menashe Noy, above), is more than a little appreciative of her abilities -- which demonstrate skills of which Benny himself is noticeably lacking.

Once the sexual harassment starts -- just a kiss, mind you, and one for which Benny is ever so sorry -- all begins to change. It's incremental, of course, but it upends Orna's behavior even more than it does Benny's. That's one of the insidious effects of female life under the patriarchy.

How all this plays out -- there's a lovely and successful trip to Paris in the mix! -- should have you impressed with Orna and her skills, even as you're growing ever more concerned. And when the shit finally hits the fan, how resolution arrives seems light years from what we might expect today in the USA or in many western countries. But this does not make it any the less believable. The culture of the state calls the shots here, as elsewhere, for better or worse.

If you find that resolution maybe just a tad too easily achieved, that is what makes the movie more melodrama than drama. There nothing wrong with a crackerjack melodrama, however -- which Working Woman most definitely is. Well acted, written and directed, the film makes a very nice addition to the increasing number of international movies addressing feminism and sexual harassment.

From Zeitgeist Films via Kino Lorber, the movie opens in New York City this coming Wednesday, March 27, at the IFC Center and the Marlene Myerson JCC Manhattan. It hits the Los Angeles area on Friday April 12 at Laemmle's Royal, Playhouse 7 and Town Center 5. Over the weeks and months to come, it will play another 25 or so cities. Click here and then scroll down to see all currently scheduled playdates and venues.

SUBMISSION: Richard Levine's timely and unsettling adaptation of a Francine Prose novel

Perfectly timed to the current Me2 movement, though not in quite the manner you might expect, the new film by director/adapter Richard Levine -- from the well-regarded novel, Blue Angel, by Francine Prose -- SUBMISSION tackles the idea of sexual harassment from a very different viewpoint. Though TrustMovies has not read this particular novel by Ms Prose, he has always found her writing strong, intelligent, thoughtful and often surprising in its choice of not just her subject but her attitude about that subject.

Here, the sexual harassment comes from both sides and in ways that are not so apparent early on. Motives are unclear, and sex itself seems maybe not nearly as important as things like fame, ego and that always problematic sense of self-worth. As director and adapter, Mr. Levine, shown at left, negotiates all this with remarkable ease and facility so that we are taken in, just as is the movie's protagonist, played with a simply wonderful combination of naivete and smarts by the always-good but here in that rare leading role that allows us to understand just how spectacular this actor can be: Stanley Tucci, below.

Mr. Tucci allows us to identify with and understand his character so thoroughly that, somewhere near the film's conclusion, my spouse murmured aloud, "Oh, this poor guy!" You'll feel the same way, and yet you will also understand exactly how he has managed to put himself in this unenviable position.

You may also feel a very odd combination of anger and admiration for his antagonist, portrayed with exactly the right mix of intelligence, neediness, ambition and a just-slightly-marred allure by Addison Timlin, above. The performances by these two actors could hardly be bettered, and the alternately sweet and naughty little dance they do together grows more complicated and unsettling as the movie progresses.

And, yes, sex is indeed involved, but the harassment portion of the equation is a lot more pliable and provocative than certain viewers might wish. The small liberal arts college that is the setting of the film is brought to satirical and mostly realistic life, while supporting roles  -- from our hero's wife, played by Kyra Sedgwick, below, and one of his faculty friends (Janeane Garafalo, shown at bottom, right) -- are very nicely limned, as well. While the novel was published back in 2000, the filmmaker has updated the content to include (and make some fun of) more current and problematic educational "tools" such as safe spaces and trigger warnings.

What happens to Tucci's character is awful but somehow expected, and the movie (as I imagine was the original novel) is not content to merely leave it there so that we and the characters can stew in our/their own juices. The ending -- which is abrupt yet just about perfect (the last line of dialog is heavenly) -- should put you in mind of something with which I suspect Ms Prose, Mr. Levine, the actors here and most of us writers, too, would all agree: In the end, it's the work that counts.

From Paladin and running 106 minutes, Submission opens theatrically this Friday, March 2, in New York City at the new Landmark 57 West. On Friday, March 9, look for it around the rest of the country in some 45 cities major and minor -- from Los Angeles (at various Laemmle theaters) to elsewhere, at locations including both the Regal and Landmark chains.  

DVDebut -- Freida Lee Mock's inspiring doc, ANITA: SPEAKING TRUTH TO POWER

For many of us, the 1991 Senate hearings regarding Anita Hill and her accusations of sexual harassment against the then Supreme Court nominee (and now sitting Justice) Clarence Thomas still touch a raw nerve. Although Ms Hill has faded somewhat into history (and into her own quietly successful career and personal life), surfacing now and again -- as when Thomas' wife made the ridiculous phone call (that immediately became public knowledge) asking Hill to recant her original, sworn testimony -- Thomas himself is unfortunately always with us. To my mind, he is the least intelligent and least worthy person to sit on the Supreme Court (in my lifetime, certainly, and maybe ever), and also the most do-nothing justice we've had to put up with.

At the time of her testimony, Ms Hill made it clear that she was not trying to sue or bring charges against this man for sexual harassment but simply wanted to place before the U.S. citizens and elected officials what kind of man had been nominated for this enormously important -- and lifetime -- place on the Supreme Court. Tellingly, Hill was not the only woman who had leveled these charges against Thomas. There were others, yet none of them were allowed to testify along with Hill. This "oversight" from a highly sexist Senate committee made the entire Hill/Thomas charade seem like a mere she-said/he-said contretemps, and Thomas was eventually confirmed as a Justice (though by a very small majority of votes).

The excellent documentary, ANITA: SPEAKING TRUTH TO POWER, made by Award-winning filmmaker Freida Lee Mock (shown above), serves two purposes. It takes us (together with younger folk who were unable to appreciate what was going on 23 years ago) back to that time and shows us what happened and why. Ms Hill makes one of the best and most believable witnesses I've ever seen -- thoughtful, intelligent, quiet, kind and brave. (With her testimony backed up, it must be said, by a number of other fine people.) Then the film takes us behind the scenes to give a brief history of Miss Hill, shown above and below at the time of the hearings, her family, and what has happened to her since then.

If you've never seen nor heard any of the hearings, the movie should open your eyes wide and sharp. Either way, it proves the last half of the film, in which we learn more than most of us have know about this unusually courageous and decent woman that makes the movie so genuinely inspirational. A lot has happened since the early 1990s regarding sexual harassment and how it is perceived, and it would seem that Ms Hill's real gift, in addition to speaking truth to power, lies in what she now stands for in the minds and hearts of so many woman (men, too). She is a living symbol of the difference that taking a stand can make.

Leaning about her family (she's one of 13 siblings) and how it lived first in North Carolina until threat of a lynching made the entire group move to Oklahoma, her studies prior to employment (under Mr. Thomas), and especially her career at Brandeis University in Massachusetts, where she clearly has blossomed once more. She loves teaching and seems to be very good at it, too.

We also learn something of her personal life from the man who has been her significant other for a number of years now. And finally we see the results of what her name, her deed and her continuing work has achieved via the many young women, men and groups across the country dedicated to putting sexual harassment in its place. (We even learn how that blue dress she wore at the hearings became rather iconic.)

All told, this is an inspiring, triumphant documentary that makes a hero out of someone who did not ask for this but has clearly become one worth touting. You can rent or purchase the DVD of Anita: Speaking Truth to Power, running 77 minutes, beginning Tuesday, June 24. And, as is the case with many of the films from First Run Features, you should be able to stream it via Netflix fairly soon.